Why I Oughta...

The biggest 'project' item on my 2022 to-do list was to begin the side-yard retaining wall/walkway project in some way.  I called it #3 on the list and said that I should start with the 'upper' wall and planting box .  This was based on a late-March post showing how I could tackle the project by building an upper and lower retaining wall and 'placing' the walkway on 'top and in-between' those two walls.  When I did my check-in on the list in early September, I was pretty confident that I wasn't going to get to this item .  Today - in mid-November - I now can say:  I didn't get to it.  As I went into project-planning mode, I went and looked around the Web for ideas.  I also looked at our lived environment for ideas, too.  And, that's where I came across a recently-installed landscape timber retaining wall project a couple of blocks away from our house.  We were out on a walk and saw this fresh, treated lumber wall that looked nicely done: Thi

Way back in January of this year, I posted a link to a 2019 gardening trends piece that mentioned that "gabion-style walls" were going to be hot this year .  If you aren't familiar with a gabion wall, go read that post where I unpack the whole thing .  On a recent run to pick up a sandwich out by Seven Bridges one weekend, I came across Ike & Oak Brewing that has these large gabion walls set up around their patio.  You can see a few of them in the photo above.    On trend, it seems.

In early January, I posted about 2019 garden trends and highlighted gabion-style walls (retaining walls made of loose stone/other items that are kind of bound by wire/mesh fence) while discussing how the style was appealing in what we're thinking about for our own backyard.  But, while on vacation in Ko' Olina in Hawaii at Disney's Aulani, I noticed that they've selected a different wall style that they use across the resort.  You can see it above and below in two different uses.  Top is a waterfall along with retaining wall.  Below the photo is just a retaining wall.  In both of these cases, they've used what I presume to be a stone/rock veneer that is all one color and irregular in shape.  Mostly round(ish) and stacked without thick mortar lines in most areas, but clean, straight lines at the top and on the corners/edges.  Kind of the best of both worlds:  natural shapes from the material, but clean lines from the edges.  There's a stone veneer availab